In this interview, Maha Abouelenein had a Zoom chat with us about the significance of getting a strong grip on communication. The Egyptian communications guru, consultant, and entrepreneur worked with huge corporations and renowned entrepreneurs around the globe. She helps them tell their stories and communicate their messages and brands. From heading communications at Google MENA and working with Naguib Sawiris‘ Orascom Telecom Holding to being the Executive Vice President (EVP) of business development and Chief Value Officer (CVO) at VaynerX; her career is full of adventures and influence! Through numerous appearances and her podcast, Digital and Savvy, she ardently works on mentoring and coaching people through the ins and outs of communication.
Watch the full interview below…
“You have to communicate with your family, you have to communicate with your co-workers, you have to communicate in a personal relationship. So, knowing how to communicate is not something that just PR people do, or governments do, or companies do — it’s something people do.”
Back in 1987, Abouelenein entered Minnesota State University and earned a bachelor’s degree in international business and marketing. Two years after her graduation, she went back and worked on a master’s degree in speech communication and received it in 1995. During her career, she worked at General Mills, Promoseven Weber Shandwick, Organizational Consultants, Google, and VaynerX.
Maha believes that, in the context of business success, reputation is what matters most. “When you think about your reputation, I want you to think about it in terms of currency. What’s its worth? What’s its value? How do you increase the value of your reputation? How do you build your reputation? How do you protect your reputation?” Elaborated Abouelenein during the Creative Industry Summit. “The biggest mistake companies make, is they speak externally before talking internally,” she added.
“The successful career is a work-in-progress for me. It’s not something where I feel like, ‘Oh I’ve done this now!’.”
Regarding personal branding, she believes that everyone is a personal brand. Just by having a social media account, that’s accessible to the public — you’ve become one. And, in her view, doing your best to be authentic and who you really are is of key importance. “Everybody has the power to be a powerful personal brand. It just takes two things: one; talk about something that you’re consistently able to do, so it must be something that you’re passionate about, and two; you have to be yourself.”
In 2020, Abouelenein spoke at #RiseUpFromHome, a special event kicked off by RiseUp in response to the struggles and hardships imposed by the novel coronavirus pandemic on Egypt and MENA’s startup ecosystem. The whole event was aired live and allowed for real-time interaction between its attendees and speakers. During it, she extensively talked to a pool of aspiring, experienced, and established entrepreneurs about how communication could benefit their startups. She especially focused on communicating during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic.
“And I think if we’ve learned anything in COVID, it’s that you have to learn how to communicate and stand out.”
